A Hogwarts Story
by kristorm
Summary: "HARRY POTTER!" called Dumbledore. Harry sighed, here we go again... After dying at the graveyard to Voldemort and his lackeys, Harry finds himself waking up again the night his name comes out of the Goblet of Fire. A Harry Potter story that derives inspiration from many sources to hopefully deliver a unique adventure full of mystery, new and old magics, drama and intrigue...
1. Chapter 1

AN: First time posting a story. This story was one I had written a few chapters for. I decided to post up what I have written, anyone wishing to adopt is free to do so as long as they give us a mention.

As of what I have written in the first few chapters, I am not sure of the direction the story is going nor am I certain of whatever pairings will happen in the future. However, due to my own reading preferences, I will most likely stay away from any slash content. I will also most likely feature multiple pairings/possible harem simply because I want my favourite characters to appear more often.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other material that I have used for inspiration. I won't put a disclaimer or AN in any of the other chapters if I can help it.

* * *

"HARRY POTTER!"

Now, when people call out someone's name, there are a number of reasons why they could be calling. Even this time, with undertones of annoyance, a touch of anger and underlying all that a smidge of exasperation, yet it would be a disservice to blame Harry for being a bit out of touch with everything around him at the moment and not noticing the increasingly annoyed crowd around him.

See from Harry's perspective, it was a vastly different event. Just a few minutes, in fact just a few seconds ago, he had been in a fight for his life, struggling against a group of Death Eaters while their dark master had been screaming for them to capture him. He had been racing, Cedric Diggory's dead body in his arms reaching towards the Triwizard cup when a flash of green light raced towards him, hitting him in the back. He remembered his calm acceptance of his own death. He remembered his vision going black as he dropped to the ground, the last things he was aware of being Voldemort cursing the one who had killed him.

He did not remember, unconscious as he was, when Voldemort in an uncharacteristic show of benevolence for his prophesized foe, telling Peter Pettigrew the order to dispose of Harry's body before apparating away to proceed with his plans to take over wizarding Britain now without its chosen one.

Peter Pettigrew, in remembrance of friends he had betrayed all those years, performed a small funeral service in that graveyard in Little Hangleton, his body cremated besides the body of a friend in Cedric Diggory, a life forcibly taken, atop the grave of his mortal enemy's father, unknowably placed, Tom Riddle Senior, sent away with the tears of a betrayer, willingly given. Unknowing that if he had waited just an hour, his friend's son would have come back to life. That was the day that Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, chosen one, died.

The next moment, he was back at Hogwarts. His first moment of awareness, his name being called out by an irate old wizard, surrounded by uniformed young wizards and witches. Having fully expected to have died, Harry was not really paying attention, just remarking to himself that Heaven was quite a bit louder than he expected. Casting his gaze around, he looked around at who else was going to be joining him in eternity as it were, his blood ran cold as he noticed his classmates from Gryffindor surrounding him.

"Go on Harry."

His heart stopped beating. It was undeniable, he would know that voice anywhere. He turned to look at that all too familiar face, his mind in turmoil, throat running dry. It is perhaps forgivable that his next words were a bit strange.

"I guess Heaven wouldn't be complete without you Hermione but... When did you die?"

Hermione's forehead crinkled. There were so many things from that sentence she had questions about, but the first thing's first, the headmaster was looking right at them and he did not look happy!

"Go on Harry, Headmaster Dumbledore's looking right at us! And I'm not dead! Honestly Harry, are you not getting enough sleep? And we'll be talking about what you just said! But right now you need to go up!"

All of that was said in a rush as she gently pushed Harry up and encouraged him towards the headmaster. Harry looked around, the idea that perhaps he wasn't in heaven had slowly dawned on him. He turned once more getting up but the words he was about to say got stuck in his throat as he looked at the expression on Ron's face. It was an expression of betrayal, anger and even hatred. Harry didn't even know what he had been about to say as he remembered that period of time between the cup shooting out his name and the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament. Stumbling away from that face of hatred on his best friend's face, he remembered the stares, the whispers, the vilification that was to follow.

Thus the idea that... Well, maybe he was in Hell? Stumbling into the antechamber where the other champions were, deaf to the whispers behind him, he wondered what he had done to deserve hell. Ideas of the afterlife hadn't really been a part of his life before this moment. Also, why did his hell look like Hogwarts? And Hermione was there so that didn't seem too hell-like... Well so was Ron, and judging from his facial expression...

**"What is it?" she said. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"**

Fleur Delacour, blonde veela, champion of Beauxbatons, was looking at him curiously. She thought he was a messenger which was reasonable if Harry thought about it himself. Harry shook his head at her before walking in and slumping against a wall and closing his eyes. Life was just a little too confusing right now and if this was hell, well at least it wasn't that bad yet. Although why Cedric was in hell... Weren't Puffs supposed to be the good ones? No he wouldn't think about it.

With that thought, or un-thought, an excited Ludo Bagman quickly entered looking around then spotting Harry scurried up grabbing his arm.

**"Extraordinary!" he muttered, squeezing Harry's arm. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen. . . lady," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other three. "May I introduce - incredible though it may seem - the fourth Triwizard champion?"**

The three champions had three different reactions. Viktor Krum's surly face darkened while looking Harry up and down, Cedric look puzzled while Fleur looked on as if watching a joke.

**"Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman."**

**"Joke?" Bagman repeated, bewildered. "No, no, not at all! Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"**

**"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," she said contemptuously to Bagman. "E cannot compete. 'E is too young."**

Harry had not been following what had been said but after Fleur's last comment he looked a bit startled. He definitely remembered her saying that before! He remembered Bagman as well! What the hell was going on?

By the time the rest of the judges, Professors Snape and McGonagall entered, some outraged and McGonagall with a disapproving frown upon her face, it had dawned on Harry that perhaps he had not in fact died and had instead gone back in time. Having experienced time travel of a sort back in third year, he knew of the possibility but he was also aware that there were supposed to be limitations. Of course he was Harry Potter and weird things happened to him all the time. When Dumbledore came up to Harry, Harry had his face in his hands wanting for the day to just be over.

Harry could hear Bagman explaining once again how he would have to compete even though there was an age restriction. The buzz of all the students was cut off when Professor McGonagall closed the door.

**"Madame Maxime!" said Fleur at once, striding over to her headmistress. "Zey are saying zat zis little boy is to compete also!"**

Harry numbly looked at Fleur when she said this. He remembered being angry when she called him a little boy the first time round. Now? Well, knowing what he did of the tasks coming up, he didn't know if he should be a little grateful that someone in the group thought he was too young to compete. At least no one else seemed to be concerned about it.

**"What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?" Madame Maxime said imperiously.**

**"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," said Professor Karkaroff. He was wearing a steely smile, and his blue eyes were like chips of ice. "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed two champions - or have I not read the rules carefully enough?"**

Harry supposed he had jumped the gun a bit, although they were not concerned with his age and inability to complete the tasks as they were about Hogwarts having an advantage.

Having listened to the argument his previous run through, Harry just ignored it all and tried thinking about everything that had happened.

He remembered his first run through the tournament. He grimaced as he realized that he would have to become a complete social pariah once again, at least until the first task after which it would go through people's heads that hey, he isn't stupid and didn't want to die and that maybe, just maybe, he didn't put his name in the goblet. Well the Slytherins wouldn't really change their opinion of him. The Hufflepuffs wouldn't really change until closer to the second task after Cedric gave him the clue for the golden egg. Harry assumed he must have told his house about getting the hint for the first task as a sign of school solidarity. Nothing calls to Hufflepuffs more than loyalty.

Harry looked up, Dumbledore was talking to him.

**"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" he asked calmly.**

Harry, still slightly lost in his thoughts replied without looking at his headmaster.

**"No."**

**"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" said Professor Dumbledore.**

**"No."**

**"Ah, but of course 'e is lying!" cried Madame Maxime. Snape was now shaking his head, his lip curling.**

**"He could not have crossed the Age Line," said Professor McGonagall sharply.**

Harry looked up slightly startled. One thing he seemed to have forgotten was how vehemently his head of house defended him against everyone else. In fact, it seemed of everyone, she was the only one on his side, even Dumbledore didn't voice his support of him. Harry watched the interplay between Professor McGonagall and the others as she kept trying to keep Harry out of the tournament.

It was after Moody had joined them, telling everyone this could be a plot to kill Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, that Harry's thinking started speeding up again. He seemed to have been in a daze since supper, but when Moody started talking again, he suddenly had a razor-like focus.

**"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" said Moody. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament.. . . I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category.. . ."**

**"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody," said Karkaroff coldly, "and a very ingenious theory it is - though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously. . . ."**

Back in the graveyard Voldemort had told his followers about someone at Hogwarts who had put him into the tournament, but who?! Harry's heart started beating faster, who ever had been in charge of his abduction and the events that followed was probably in this room. Hell, two people here had the Dark Mark! Snape and Karkaroff were prime suspects. Harry missed the rest of the talk as he was lost in his own thoughts, heart beating even faster as he realized how much danger he was in, 'As always,' he thought bitterly.

They had been in this room for a while now. The discussion had taken longer than any of them thought with Mr. Crouch telling them the rules of tournament as well as what was expected of the first task. Harry was tempted to blurt out 'Dragons!' but that would hardly strengthen his case that he didn't enter himself.

It happened when they were walking out of the chamber. Madame Maxime had already led Fleur out whispering to each other in French at a rapid pace; Karkaroff did the same with Krum, although they left in silence. Professor McGonagall had left with a troubled look already mumbling about paperwork she would have to fill out for this incidence while Professor Snape...

What happened exactly, Harry didn't know. What he did know was that Snape had looked back at him, glaring as he usually did when he looked at his most hated student. As their eyes met, Harry's vision went white, his world exploded into a lightning storm of pain. It was like there was a crucio that just zapped his brain. Distantly he thought he could hear Snape screaming in pain as well...

He didn't know when but he had fallen to his knees, hands clutching his own head. Darkness started swimming into his vision as he fell slowly to the floor. He heard the pitter-patter of small feet, some rustling, then two footsteps then he felt hands holding his head up.

"Mr. Potter? Speak to me! Harry?"

Harry couldn't see who was talking to him. The voice was female and seemed to be filled with concern. His thoughts, detached from the pain that lanced through his brain, sparked a memory long lost before searing pain brought it back. He remembered this voice. Not from recently but from his past! The pain chose then to flare up, was his brain going to melt? He was dimly aware that he was being floated somewhere, probably the infirmary. From the hoarse mutterings he heard besides him, he guessed Snape was as well.

The darkness that filled his vision seemed to start into his brain as well... It was, Harry realized, his brain shutting down. In the last moments of his consciousness, he seemed to gain that last gasp of lucidity.

Professor McGonagall! He remembered her voice from his childhood! That time his arm broke, she had come in and fixed it! Gave quite a talking to to Uncle Vernon as well! When he had gone three days without food she had given his Aunt Petunia a visit as well! How had he forgotten her voice? He had never seen her, even his arm was fixed while he was asleep but he didn't think he would ever forget the voice that had argued on his behalf with his aunt and uncle. Those times he had been placed into the guestroom, his relatives hiding his room in the cupboard beneath the stairs. Harry had thought that those visits were dreams, that his mother had come and paid a visit perhaps but a few days after he would always be back into the cupboard beneath the stairs, with no one else the wiser.

Harry's last thoughts were that if he had a chance, perhaps he wouldn't cause his favourite professor quite so much of a headache anymore if he could help it.

It was an anguished Minerva McGonagall that rushed to the school infirmary only to have the school Mediwitch Poppy Pomfrey announce The-Boy-Who-Lived dead on arrival.


	2. Chapter 2

"HARRY POTTER!"

Harry's first moment of awareness jolted him upright, scaring Hermione who had been moving towards him to give him a nudge. Looking around wildly, Harry saw the Gryffindor table all looking at him silently. Hermione and Ron were looking at him blankly although the longer Harry looked, the redder Ron's face started becoming, a sign of the anger that was slowly but surely bubbling up.

"Go on Harry!" whispered Hermione.

Harry looked at her, remembering what he had said to her when he thought he was going to Heaven, Harry got a bit tongue-tied.

Shaking his head and dismissing his thoughts, he thought back on what had just happened. Did he die again? The last things he remembered was Snape glaring at him and... His eyes widened. Professor McGonagall! She had visited him in his childhood! How could he have forgotten that?

Despite Hermione's gentle nudging to get up, Harry stubbornly stayed sitting down this time. He was confused about what was happening but was sure of one thing, he had died again. The fact that he seemed to be going back in time to when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire was one thing, but being killed by one of your professors was another. He didn't even know how it had happened, all he remembered was seeing Snape glare at him! Hell, if Snape could kill with a look then potions class just got a hell of a lot more awful... And it was already pretty terrible already.

"HARRY POTTER! PLEASE COME TO THE FRONT OF THE HALL!"

"Harry go on, Professor Dumbledore's calling you..."

In the background, whispers had already started, accusing him of cheating. Harry put his head in his hands. Too many things were happening at once... Again.

_Ok, let's see, what's important? Hermione, Ron, the cup, I died again, Professor McGonagall, definitely need to talk to her about visiting me when I was younger._

By this point, Professor McGonagall, after a furious argument with Professor Dumbledore had walked down to the Gryffindor table and was currently behind Harry.

"Come along Mr. Potter, it seems your name has come out of the Goblet of Fire."

Harry looked up at his head of house.

"Professor I didn't put my name in the cup, I don't want to be a part of this tournament!" Harry told her. Unnoticed by him but not unnoticed by Hermione and Professor McGonagall, some of the cutlery on the table were starting to vibrate, spoons started stirring invisible bowls, forks rocking back and forth.

It takes intense emotion to trigger accidental magic and for Harry who was living through this evening twice in a row, well, intense emotion was par for the course.

"I believe you Mr. Potter, however you are still required to come up so we can sort out this mess."

Professor McGonagall's words had an effect at least at the Gryffindor table, faces that had previously twisted in displeasure looking a bit more mollified.

Harry got up and once again started into the antechamber where the other champions as well as the tournament officials were. He came upon them as they were arguing. Harry rolled his eyes, of course Snape was insulting him, calling him a cheater and demanding he be expelled, typical.

Bored, he went to go talk to Cedric who was looking at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Hey Cedric, this isn't as fun as the Quidditch Cup was hey?"

Cedric smiled briefly at that.

"Well we haven't really started Harry," Cedric replied before looking more seriously at his younger school mate. "What's this about your name coming out of the Goblet of Fire? How'd you put your name in?"

Harry wondered if he should simply lie this time around rather than deny it like he did. Would it make a difference? First time round, only Hermione had believed him.

Unbeknownst to Harry, Snape had walked up to the chatting duo grabbing Harry and swinging him around.

"Potter! How did you put-..."

_Pain! Pain! Pain!_ Pain! The world was burning, fire melting into his brain. Harry fell, unaware of his own screams. There was the sound of spellwork as it flew around him although who was fighting who now didn't seem to make sense. In his darkening vision, people just silhouettes swimming with spell light shooting off, Harry picked out three different spells of emerald green... One of them headed straight for him.

As his consciousness left him, he distantly heard the sound of two other bodies hitting the ground. His last thought was that at least this time there were witnesses to what Snape had done to him... Whatever it was.

There in the antechamber off the Great Hall, Harry Potter died once again.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Again. He had come back to this point yet again! And Snape had killed him again! What the hell?! And this time in front of everyone, even Dumbledore!

Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it towards the head table. There he was! That little grease stain! Before Harry could get a single spell off, beady black eyes met emerald eyes...

Pain! Thud!

"HARRY POTTER!"

Pain! Thud!

"HARRY POTTER!"

"Stupefy!"

Pain! Thud!

"HARRY POTTER!"

Now, Harry wasn't the smartest wizard of his age, but the fact that perhaps he wasn't the equal of Snape in any type of combat was quite brutally thrust upon him. Especially since any eye contact seemed to result in his death. Was Snape's father a Basilisk?

Dying several times in quite a painful fashion, any lesson could eventually be learnt. One such was that he couldn't defeat Snape currently. Another that meeting Snape's eyes led to his death. It was a testament to Harry's stubbornness that he had had to die several times before giving up... Well not giving up, biding time. A tactical retreat.

This current go around found Harry mulishly standing in the antechamber glaring at Ludo Bagman as the tournament official went off on his spiel about the now Quadrawizard Cup, not that they changed the name of course. If they called the train that took students to Hogwarts the 'Hogwarts Express', when it was in fact the slowest of wizarding transports to take students to Hogwarts, well things devolved from there.

Another realization had come to Harry at that point, the furthest he had gotten from his waking up had been his very first go, almost leaving the Great Hall before his encounter with Snape. All the other times ended up with him dying in various ways. If he confronted Snape in the Great Hall, there would be a lot of screaming and panic but that is presumably normal when a student screams his lungs out before dying. If he confronted Snape in the antechamber, there would be a battle and others would die although who did what was difficult to find out since he would be the reason the battle started and would quickly be down and out before dying.

Which brings about this current live through, the goal being getting out of the Great Hall and getting back to his bed. This came from yet another realization. Although he seemed to be resetting to the moment his name came out of that blasted cup, it did nothing for his mind. And by this point he had been up for many more hours than those around him and he was getting so, so tired...

Harry sighed, glancing over at his fellow champions, Fleur being the closest, he decided perhaps an olive branch early on would be better than taking out his frustrations out on the three largely innocent students. Besides, after the second task Fleur had really come around, Cedric was not just the best Hogwarts student but the best of Hufflepuff, with all that entails. Harry blinked, didn't he die? Well changing that seems to be a good start. Viktor had treated Hermione well so he deserved the benefit of the doubt as well. Again Harry paused in his thoughts... Wasn't he using the crutiatus curse on Fleur in the maze?! Ok, so maybe two out of three innocent students...

"You know guys, I don't want to be a downer, but every year there's a murder attempt on me here at Hogwarts," Harry said. Seeing them look his way, Harry explained a bit about his first three years to their growing disbelief. Cedric, the closest to the events of the three had a look approaching horror.

"You mean those petrifications were from a BASILISK?!" Cedric's voice was a bit louder than he expected and all the champions noted a silence in the antechamber as everyone turned to him.

Dumbledore approached them as Cedric was trying to regain his composure.

"Now Harry, no need to spread such stories, trying to unnerve your competitors isn't very sportsman-like. The Triwizard is about unity after all," said Dumbledore a twinkle in his eye.

_Wait what?! Did he just tell everyone I'm lying to get an edge in the competition?! Sneaky bugger... Wasn't telling them I was lying but was implying it wasn't he?!_

A quick look at the three others and faces of disapproval could be seen on all three faces. Harry's face darkened as he contemplated this new angle to his headmaster that he hadn't witnessed before. Perhaps seeing sensing Harry's growing anger Dumbledore ushered the judges forth to hear their opinion on what would happen next. The consensus being once again that Harry would have to compete.

_Sigh..._

It was only halfway up to his room that Harry realized he had skipped Snape's Glare of Death (tm) and could actually look forward to a bed and blissful blissful sleep! With that thought, he had a bit of a skip in his step as he made his way to the Gryffindor dorms.

The Fat Lady was gossiping with the wizened witch from a neighbouring painting. Desperate for a rest Harry ignore their questions and told them the password.

"Balderdash," Harry said, feeling the waves of tiredness threatening to overcome him. Events were catching up to him... And although it seemed it sort of reset him each time, a mind can only go so long without sleep time travel or no.

Harry's hopes of going to sleep then waking up to deal with everything in the morning were dashed when a wall of sound burst forth from within as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung forward. He ignored her annoyance at being ignored as he walked slowly into the common room.

He was immediately dragged in by a number of hands, everyone cheering and applauding.

**"You should've told us you'd entered!" bellowed Fred; he looked half annoyed, half deeply impressed.**

**"How did you do it without getting a beard? Brilliant!" roared George.**

Harry looked at the twins dully. But before he could muster up the energy to tell them off **Angelina had swooped down upon him; "Oh if it couldn't be me, at least it's a Gryffindor -"**

**"You'll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match, Harry!" shrieked Katie Bell, another of the Gryffindor Chasers.**

**"We've got food, Harry, come and have some -"**

It took close to an hour before he could finally break away from the crowd. They were reluctant to let him go. Stumbling up the stairs to the room he shared with his year mates, Harry was glad to see only Ron was in the room.

Smiling tiredly, Harry was about to greet his best friend but his words died a slow involuntary death. Ron had a strange look on his face, a smile that wasn't a smile. Something was... Oh... Oh no, not this part.

"So, congratulations," the way Ron said it, his smile that was more like a grimace.

Something felt like it died inside Harry. It wasn't hard to remember what had happened. It had been the worst month of his life, and he had spend his childhood with the Dursleys so that was saying something. The reason it was the worst had a lot to do with the person sitting down in front of him. If he couldn't get Ron to see reason...

"How did you do it?" Great, Ron looked like he was growing angry.

"Look Ron, I didn't put my name in the goblet."

"You used your cloak didn't you?"

"What? I just said I didn't put my name in!"

**"It's okay, you know, you can tell me the truth," he said. "If you don't want everyone else to know, fine, but I don't know why you're bothering to lie, you didn't get into trouble for it, did you? That friend of the Fat Lady's, that Violet, she's already told us all Dumbledore's letting you enter. A thousand Galleons prize money, eh? And you don't have to do end-of-year tests either. . ."**

"Ron, bloody hell, would you listen? I didn't put my name in!"

**"Yeah, okay," said Ron, "Only you said this morning you'd have done it last night, and no one would've seen you.. . . I'm not stupid, you know."**

Harry shut up, his mouth twisted into a hard line. Yes, he remembered this. This was the moment his best friend turned his back on him, the three years they had spent together and everything they had been through.

**"You want to get to bed, Harry. I expect you'll need to be up early tomorrow for a photo-call or something,"** with those words, Ron drew the velvet curtains of his bed, cutting off any reply Harry could give.

Grimly, Harry put a silencing charm around his bed before lying down, eyes gazing at nothing in particular. It would be a long while till he fell asleep that night.


	3. Chapter 3

The day after was a Sunday. With a groan, Harry woke up and robotically began to prepare for the day. It was halfway through brushing his teeth that he remembered the events of the previous night. He groaned and contemplated just going back to bed. With Gryffindor thinking him a hero, Hufflepuff hating him for taking their champion's spotlight, Slytherin being Slytherin and Ron being Ron... Yeah there didn't seem to be much reason to be up and about. With that mind set, he shuffled back to his bed fully intent on sleeping until he became as old as Dumbledore.

It was maybe 20 minutes later that the velvet curtain was drawn aside letting the light sunlight streaming through the window to fall on his face. With a huff Hermione placed the napkin she was holding on his night stand before placing her hands on her hips looking down at Harry.

"Honestly Harry, I know it all seems a bit much but that's no reason to be sleeping in so much!"

Good ol' Hermione. No matter what she hadn't betrayed him at least. He tried to say good morning but it came out more like a camel who's hump was erupting like a volcano. Even Hermione seemed a bit disturbed at such a strange sound.

Shaking herself she said, "I brought you some breakfast, if you get changed we could go for a walk, I'm sure you would like to talk or something."

Sometimes she knew him better than he did himself as his traitorous stomach decided that was the moment it would sing God Save the Queen, drum solo version. Avoiding looking at Hermione's no doubt triumphant facial expression, Harry got up, showing that he had in fact already changed but had got back into bed too tired of life.

Walking side by side, one munching on toast, they walked out of the Gryffindor common room.

"I just don't understand it Hermione, we've been through so much! But he wouldn't believe me! When have I ever wanted attention? Fame? Money? I have enough of both thank you very much! I mean if he wanted fame, we could go get our picture taken with the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets!"

Ranting to Hermione was cathartic.

A word to the wise, most men, and this is very much a gender specific thing, most men when given a problem or told about an unpleasant set of circumstances, their first reaction will be to try to find a solution. This seems to be hard-wired into them on a metaphysical level. Just like all men will have a euphoric feeling when building something with their own hands, or doing stupid things that could cause severe bodily injury with their friends.

A woman in the same set of circumstances usually, by noting social cues and body language, will be able to discern whether the party coming to them either wants a brainstorming session or whether they simply want to vent and rant and complain.

Hermione was letting Harry vent however took note of what he was saying and filing it away for later. Some things were surprisingly good ideas and she wondered why she hadn't thought of them before. Why hadn't she asked Harry to take her down into the Chamber of Secrets?

By this point Harry was winding down. He had realized early on that when he tried complaining about his time-traveling, his brain had felt echoes of pain. That pain was incredibly similar to what ever had killed him the last several times.

At least that had proven that Snape didn't have the ability to kill with a glare, it was definitely something else. Think of the number of casualties if Snape had basilisk powers. Although... Why did it cause him pain?

"Hermione?"

"Yes Harry?"

"You read a lot right?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Yes Harry," a smile, "I do a bit of light reading everyday."

Harry was musing to himself, reconstructing events in his head. He almost snorted at her comment. I thought I was supposed to be the sarcastic one?

"Can you tell me the different branches of magic that you've read about so far?"

He didn't want to outright tell Hermione that he thought Snape was doing something, hell, he didn't even know if that was possible!

Harry's reasoning was thus, Snape could not kill with a glare, he didn't point his wand that he could see and in fact the only thing that he could be certain of was that Snape made eye contact with him. Putting together the fact that it hurt when he tried telling Hermione of his time-travelling and the conclusion was a bit chilling.

"Well there's the core subjects we're learning about of course, charms, transfiguration, potions, defense but you can split those up into more like transfiguration also has conjuration, charms can be split into animation, elemental and others. Defense has charms and transfigurations as well but they are also where you get the cantrips, hexes, jinxes and curses."

Hermione put on her textbook lecturing tone.

"As for the other subjects we have here at Hogwarts, arithmancy, runes, herbology, astronomy, divination and creatures are all their own separate fields."

"Right but I meant perhaps fields of magic that aren't taught here at school."

"Do you mean like dark magic? Or some of the master's fields like warding and curse-breaking, healing? There's ritual magic too but no one really does those anymore. Oh there's also mind magics, I read about that in the book that talked about boggarts, 101 Dark Creatures and Unorthodox Defences! They said that if you are a good enough occlumens, you can sometimes influence what the boggart transforms into! Although they didn't say how much influence since it would still be something you feared but..."

"Sorry what's an occlumens?" Harry interrupted, mind magics! This was definitely something he needed more information on.

"There was really much in the school library about that but I know that it's from a branch of magics that deal with the mind."

Hermione frowned, not liking having what she perceived as a hole in her education.

"Occlumency and Legilimency are the defense and attack of the mind."

The two jumped as a third voice joined their conversation. They had walked out all the way closer to the lake by now and hadn't been expecting anyone else out here.

A pale skinny young girl with blonde hair was standing a ways away skipping towards them. She wasn't wearing any shoes and was in a night gown of all things.

"They say a Greek wizard who went by the name of Hades was the inventor of legilimency and he would read people's minds and if he considered them guilty of crimes he would punish them! The worst would be either put to death or punish with a pain curse while lesser crimes would simply be obliviated. They say he's the one who invented the memory charm and that he drew inspiration for the charm from a river that would flow blue during winter but then flow green when spring started. Daddy says that memory charms were actually invented when an emperor was tricked into walking around naked because someone tricked him but then had his wizards remove the memory of that from everyone."

The skipping blonde finally made it all the way in front of the two who had stopped a bit stunned.

"Hello Harry Potter, my name is Luna, Luna Lovegood, but every calls me Loony."

This was the first time Harry had seen this girl, because he was sure he would have remembered her otherwise. Hermione felt a headache coming on, she didn't know whether to believe that tale or not, but it was definitely not something she had come across before... It took a while before her introduction and what came afterwards struck.

"Hello Luna, I'm Harry Potter. And who is calling you Loony? It isn't nice calling people names..."

"Hello Luna, my name is Hermione, Hermione Granger, and Harry's right! Have you talked to a prefect? If someone is bullying you we can talk to someone about it! Which house are you in? Who's your head of house?"

It took another few moments for Harry to put a few things together. Harry wasn't the brightest lumos in the room, but there was one thing he knew intimately, and that was the signs of bullying and the level of cruelty that could be done.

Face darkening, Harry started asking questions that made Hermione's eyes widen and her flow of words dry up, "Luna... Why are you outside... In your pajamas?"

No one ever told Harry he was Sherlock Holmes, but sometimes things smack you in the face quite a bit until it's all but shouting the clues in your face. Hermione, herself a victim of bullying in her younger years had a frown on her face but still with a bit of hope that there might be some logical explanation. That hope fizzled like a lump of fat on a hot pan. The hot pan of reality.

The hot pan of reality isn't really a thing but well... Things get weird when Luna's around and today didn't prove to be an exception. Not that either Harry or Hermione knew this as they stared at the diminutive blond, who hit them with a relay of the top headlines in the Quibbler, her father's newspaper.

"... And the reason is because of the Rotfang Conspiracy of course. The minister swept it all under the table, the table which was overflowing with goblin pies that he makes every full moon..."

Looking increasingly dazed, wondering how this had to do with her wearing pajamas outside in the morning, the duo shared a look, urging the other to be the one to interrupt without seeming rude. Hermione, being the out-voted 1 to 1 with the tiebreaker being the very wild look on Harry's face, walked closer to Luna and looked her over.

"Um Luna, what is the last thing you remember last night?" Hermione was making signals behind her back at Harry. Unfortunately he didn't actually know what she was trying to say, so like a Gryffindor he did what he did best.

"So Luna, were you confounded?"

There was a slap as a palm met a forehead then a sigh.

"Come on Luna, I don't know the charms to check you over so let's get you to Madam Pomfrey," holding the younger student by the arm she pulled her over to stand between her and Harry and they made their way back to the castle.

Unspoken by both but feared by Hermione was that the young girl might have been spelled and assaulted. Being the daughter of two medical practitioners, she knew some off the signs but couldn't be sure so did the best thing she could, find a professional to help.

They made their way to the school infirmary with Luna regaling them about various fantastical creatures and different conspiracy theories that her father had unearthed. Normally quiet, the young lonely Ravenclaw found new wings around people who were friendly and weren't looking at her with sneers nor dismissing her as 'Loony Lovegood'.

She had got to telling them about the heliotrope's takeover of the department of mysteries and that the prophecy spheres were actually heliotrope gravestones when they got to their destination.

"Thank you for listening to me, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," Luna said looking at the ground. She looked up a beautiful smile lighting up her face, "It was almost like I had friends!"

Impulsively Hermione put her arms around Luna in a hug squeezing, "Oh Luna, of course we're your friends! Don't listen to those people who call you Loony, those types of people aren't worth listening to," she said with a sniff. She directed a glare at Harry who paused knowing he was missing something... He scratched his head wondering what he was specifically supposed to be doing at this moment... Hermione was nodding her head towards Luna, was that a clue?

At the end of patience Hermione reached over, grabbed Harry and dragged him to hug Luna as well. Harry's body went stiff, unused to body contact despite the literal years Hermione had been trying to wean him into it. Finally getting the clue he rigidly put his arms around the two girls.

This was the scene Madam Pomfrey came upon as she made her way to prepare for the day at the infirmary. It was a rather touching scene with a clearly uncomfortable Harry Potter held in place by Hermione Granger around a younger student.

"Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger, I assume it is too early in the year for some dastardly injury and Mr. Potter with no Quidditch this year I had been hoping I wouldn't be seeing you in the infirmary this year," Poppy Pomfrey said startling the two older students who scrambled to present themselves better, although she noted neither were willing to stray far from the younger blonde student that she now recognized was the young Ms. Luna Lovegood. Seeing her standing in her nightgown without any shoes, Pomfrey got an inkling of the situation. Setting a firm line before a frown managed to takeover her face, she opened the doors to the infirmary.

The infirmary looked as usual, white sheets, the slight smell of anti-septic lingering in the air. The school mediwitch's apartment at Hogwarts was right next to the infirmary however when a student had to spend the night under her she found it more convenient to have a cot in her office so she would be closer to hand if something happened.

She led the students to one of the beds and judging the older two to be relatively free of injury, although in Harry's case that was really a questionable judgment half the time, she laid Luna on one of the beds running her wand while murmuring her diagnosis charms. She let out an inaudible sigh as the charms returned no signs of assault. Her immediate concern addressed she turned to the other two, "I'll need to run some more invasive charms on young Ms. Lovegood, and she might need to take off her nightgown so I'll be putting up a screen."

A little voice interrupted her, "Ms. Pomfrey, could Hermione stay with me please?" The voice growing lighter before trailing off.

Nodding at Hermione the three soon disappeared behind a screen leaving Harry to stand around not knowing what to do. First unsure then a little bored he looked over the room. He was intimately familiar with this room, first his stay after the Quirrelmort debatacle, then when the bones in his arm were vanished, after the basilisk and third year being attacked by Dementors constantly and end of year before their rescue of Sirius... Wow that's quite a lot of injuries. Honestly, in the muggle world he could probably sue someone.

Harry wondered over to the medicine cabinet. He knew they had an alarm over them to make sure no one stole from them but there wasn't any harm in looking. He grimaced as he recognized way too many of them.

Calming draughts, weirdly lemony, blood replenishing, like sucking iron mixed with liquorice, skelegrow, like an old sock and smelly fish. Pain relief, grass flavour with notes of sawdust and a mint that's just a bit off... You know, if you could make potions taste good, Snape would be so rich. I'm surprised Snape's a highschool teacher, he could make a ton making muggle drugs. God, can you imagine Snape, leader of a criminal organization? Actually... Yeah I can imagine that...

Disturbed by his own thoughts Harry continued looking at the selection of potions. The common potions that he had been subjected he knew well by taste alone, none that he enjoyed. There were more such as the burn salve they made back in first year, essence of dittany, some that seemed strangely specific like the splinter removal paste which was probably for splinters you couldn't just vanish. Nutrient potions, eye abrasion liquid, pepperup potions... Innocent maiden potion? Nope, nope nope not going to ask. Harry skipped over all the pink coloured potions just in case. There was quite a lot of them...

Looking at the next shelf he blinked, scar removal potion? Does this work?

A yellow looking thick paste lay in a glass bottle. Hearing movement behind him Harry turned around. Seeing Hermione and Madam Pomfrey as well as Luna now dressed in a robe with some shoes, either from the infirmary or conjured up, Harry asked, "Madam Pomfrey how does this scar removal potion work? Can I try it out?"

"The potion really only works on new scars Mr. Potter and don't work really well on magical scars," the mediwitch said, however looking at the pleading look from her favourite patient she relented, "We can try it so you can see if it'll have anymore effect then you will be heading off to lunch."

On cue, Harry's stomach growled. Echoing growls came from the stomachs of the two reddening girls although Luna made a point of pointing to Hermione's belly with a look of betrayal. Her slight smile showed she was joking though, it seemed the two had become closer after her examination.

Harry with Madam Pomfrey's help tried the scar removal potion on his basilisk scar first. Not that he minded it, it was just a stark reminder of a near death experienced that he didn't want to remember each time he saw it.

To his surprise, as well as to Madam Pomfrey's, the scar looked a bit lighter after the application.

"Well that IS a surprise, I suppose some of the magic from the scar must be fading! We can try the potion again next week and see if it gets even lighter. No one has had a basilisk bite scar and lived to tell the tale then asked to get their scar removed before, I daresay you could write a paper about this."

Hermione's face lit up in happiness at that statement. Noticing Harry's intensity looking at the potion she relented. She knew which scar he truly wanted to treat, who wouldn't?

Getting him to lie down and take his glasses off, Madam Pomfrey helped Harry smear a light layer over his lightning bolt scar.

What Harry wasn't expecting, and none of the others in the infirmary were expecting either was for Harry to start screaming then laughing in a high-pitched tone. A dark haze covered Harry's face as his eyes glowed red... Then the laughter cut off as smoke began drifting from the edges of where the lightning shaped scar used to be.

Then with a slight whoosh Harry Potter abruptly turned into ashes as a wraith appeared above The-Boy-Who-Lived screaming before fading away.

And thus died Harry Potter.


	4. Chapter 4

"HARRY POTTER!"

Harry wasn't listening. He had just died from what amounted to a facial cream. He ignored Hermione who was prodding him and Ron who was looking at him weirdly.

A facial cream.

Yes it was a scar removal potion but that didn't take away the fact that he was basically using it to make his forehead look nicer...

Wait! Does that mean nothing stuck?! He looked around at the Ravenclaw table, finally spotting Luna Lovegood, sitting alone at the end of the table. Dressed in the Ravenclaw colours with radish earrings and a cork bottle necklace that she hadn't had last night she was ignored by her fellow Ravenclaws as well as the Beauxbatons students sitting with them.

He could feel the panic rising. With wild eyes he look around. Hermione? Ron? Madam Pomfrey? None of them would remember anything. All of Gryffindor. He could feel himself breathing faster.

It was inevitable really. The first few times he had woken up to the choosing of the champions, he had only lost a few hours and in the grand scheme of things, very unimportant hours at that. But this time? He and Hermione had found Luna and made friends with her... And now Luna looked like she was alone again. He and Hermione had spent a morning just chatting, but only he would remember what was said.

Hermione noticing that Harry was starting to breath faster and in fact looked like was going to have a full blown panic attack. A surprise since she had seen him jump on the back of a troll, face down a mass murderer (well at least that's what they believed at the time) and even tackle a horde dementors without breaking a sweat.

"Harry? Are you ok? I mean your name came out of the cup but I'm sure if you talk to Professor Dumbledore everything will work out..."

Harry tried to calm down, truly he did but the idea of being trapped, that feeling of it was giving him flashbacks to dark times when he was a child, leaning against a cupboard door pining for love that would never come, hunger aching in his stomach.

The murmurs that had risen with the reading out of a fourth champion stopped when there was a muffled thump as Harry toppled over backwards in a faint, then there was a swish of robes as Professor McGonagall with a speed that surprised even the quidditch places of her houses morphed into her cat form jumping off the teacher's table swiftly arriving next to Harry before morphing back. With a flick of her wand she had him up and started walking to take him to the infirmary, Madam Pomphrey quickly taking over as the two witches started leaving the Great Hall.

Ludo Bagman ran after her trying to explain that Harry needed to go to the antechamber. The entire school got to witness their deputy headmistress take the head of one of the departments of the ministry to task like an errant schoolboy.

"If you think I'll let ye take one of my students when he is unconscious then you have another thing coming! Shame on you Ludo Bagman, I don't remember you being this when you were one of my students! Shame on you!"

Any further words were lost as she levitated Harry out the Great Hall with Hermione running after them.

Waking up to white walls, the smell of disinfectant lingering in the air, Harry looked dejectedly at the white roof, white walls, white sheets, a head of bushy hair...

Wait what?

Yep, definitely Hermione. What time was it? Surely it couldn't be the same day?

"Mr. Potter, I see you're awake, you seem to have stayed asleep almost all morning. I don't know what you did but you were nearing magical exhaustion when you came in!"

Harry groaned, if the rest of the school found out that bit of information, the idea that he had entered himself would get worse with each retelling.

"You'll be spending the next three days as a guest here in the infirmary until you recover from your magical exhaustion at least," Madam Pomphrey nodded to Hermione who was still sleeping, "Ms. Granger stayed up late with you despite my telling her to return to the dorm and came early before breakfast started as well. You would do well to thank her for her caring once she wakes up. Now, I'll arrange for the elves to send up some food for you and Ms. Granger." With those parting words she returned to her office.

Harry sat in his bed. He had spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what had happened to him at this point however he hadn't really just examined it in excruciating detail. He was, by action and thought, an idiot. Why was he so blasé about the fact that he had seemingly died? Was that normal? Thinking back, were near death experiences so common that he brushed them off and simply went along with his day?

Thinking back to first year... Right, the forest, Fluffy, first Quidditch match, end of year Quirrel, second year the basilisk, third year the dementors not to mention all his DADA professors had almost ended up killing him, although one simply wanted to erase his memory and the other was an honest mistake.

One thing became clear, he Harry Potter, needed help. And he knew just the person who would help him unquestionably, because, well she had the last time. Also he was getting a bit miffed with dying so easily, the face cream was the last straw! He couldn't be that easy to kill could he?

Hearing a slight groan, Harry covered his mouth with a hand. Hermione definitely drooled a bit onto the blanket while she was sleeping. A gentleman of course wouldn't draw attention to this. But the temptation...

His temptation only increased as Hermione raised her head off his bed with a line of drool didn't seem to break, linking her with the wet mark on his blanket where she had been napping.

"... Hmm oh good morning Harry, how are you feeling today? You gave us quite a bit of a fright when you collapsed yesterday. Madam Pomphrey says you had magical exhaustion though I have no idea what you were doing to have magical exhaustion. I mean, well, Ron thought you had done some magic or something to get selected as a fourth champion... Um..." she looked at Harry nervously, "Ron isn't... Well he didn't seem too pleased about what happened but if you two talk about it I'm sure... I'm sure he'll come round. I mean obviously you didn't put your name in, why would you have? As if the other years weren't enough with their adventures."

Harry was fascinated, _I think she only took two breaths that entire time? She could make it as an opera singer... Well except she can't sing. Perhaps a diver? Well she said she went to France and stayed at a beach right? Reminds me, I should really get her to teach me how to swim._

"Harry are you listening?"

"Yes Hermione, and good morning to you as well. Forget Ron for the moment, what happened after I uh... Collapsed last night?" _Collapsed not fainted, yes._

"Well, the Hufflepuffs weren't happy about it, The Slytherins don't really like us anyway. Ravenclaw are just... Ravenclaw..."

At the mention of Ravenclaw Harry's eyes went wide. _Luna! Damn she was outside right now wasn't she?_

Harry bolted upright, throwing his blanket to one side while grabbing his wand. He absent mindedly grabbed his wand, used a spell to clean Hermione's face while transfiguring his clothes into robes and giving himself some shoes.

"No time to explain! We need to go to the lake!" With that Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and started dragging her out of the infirmary.

"Mr. Potter! Just Where do you think you are going?!" Just as he was leaving Madam Pomphrey came out of her office.

"No time to explain! Hermione grab Madam Pomphrey, she'll be needed!"

Hermione was still in shock, open-mouthed at her best friends casual use of transfiguration. Madam Pomphrey, after seeing Hermione's face decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and raced after them.

They were walking at a brisk pace, Hermione now face flushing as Harry was still holding her hand, Madam Pomphrey keeping step, when they ran into Professor McGonagall.

Raising one eyebrow she was about to comment when Harry, without stopping, said, "Professor, you better come too!"

"Very well Mr. Potter, however I will be needing an explanation for this afterward."

Harry was slightly surprised. After first year he had always expected to be brushed aside or ignored by his head of house. That said, she was still his favourite professor, just... Too professional? The older Gryffindors told him that she was always finding it difficult to be both deputy headmistress as well as head of Gryffindor since sometimes those positions were supposed to clash.

Shaking his head, the now four person group had left the castle and were nearing the lake. Not seeing anyone, Harry used the spell he last used in the maze during the Third Task. Point me Luna Lovegood!

Professor McGonagall, nearing the end of her patience was about to reprimand the two students but stopped at seeing the casual use of silent casting. _A location spell? A fifth year level charm, but silent casting? Seventh year. Harry has been keeping secrets it seems! And with the look on Ms. Granger's face, not just from his professors!_

The wand spun around Harry's hand before pointing to an area between the lake and the Forbidden Forest. Harry's face morphed to a scowl, this was turning out worse than he thought. Picking up speed, he followed the direction his wand was pointing at.

The four arrived at an area with a slight depression in the ground, within sight of the forbidden forest.

"Please help me look around, my spell can't seem to pinpoint the location."

"What are we even looking for Harry?"

"Yes Mr. Potter, what exactly are we looking for?"

"It's not a what, it's a who..."

Harry was cut off when a gasp came from the school nurse. She had been looking around the depression and noticed a bit of white in the plants. Making her way over to the area she gasped as she noticed it was a student in their bedclothes lying surrounded by long grass.

"Minerva, over here! By Merlin, what is a student doing all the way out here!" Madam Pomphrey was running spells over the sleeping student.

Professor McGonagall, who had reached her colleague's side had her mouth drawn into a tight line.

"Sleep and stasis spells, she was put here by someone else, the sleep spell was even designed to break after breakfast so she would go hungry as well. This is the worst case of bullying I have ever seen. Close to the Forbidden Forest too. Why if we didn't have Hagrid some of those creatures could have come out and taken the little one..."

Hermione was looking at the sleeping girl in shock. So many things had taken her by surprise this morning. Harry using magic so casually, holding her hand, using a spell she hadn't seen before but now this! Just what was happening with Harry!

They were making their way back to Hogwarts now with Luna levitated between them when it happened. Out of the corner of Harry's eye, he saw a flash of green light headed towards them. It was headed to Professor McGonagall while a yellow curse was headed towards Madam Pomphrey.

Being close to Hermione and Madam Pomphrey, Harry shoved them both hard before doing something incredibly stupid. _Curse my people saving thing._

"Watch out!" His voice cracked as he screamed before cutting off as the green light impacted on his body. His body hit the ground and didn't get up again.

_Hermione's POV_

_Something's wrong with Harry._

Hermione wasn't arrogant enough to assume that she was the end all and be all of all knowledge, but there was one area of expertise that she believed she was the leading expert and that was about one Harry James Potter. The real Harry Potter, not from the history books or those kids stories. _Harry Potter and the Vengeful Dragon, Harry Potter and Merlin's Castle, Harry Potter and the Evil Vizier, indeed! Harry Potter and the Evil Vizier was just Aladdin but Harry was both Aladdin and the Genie!_

They had arrived and found the student that Harry had been in a rush to find. She could see why, according to the two professors, someone, probably from her house had purposely spelled her then dragged her out here over night. Whether it be a prank or, as it was increasingly looking like, a bad case of bullying... _But how did Harry know? Obviously he knew she was out here but he was in the infirmary all night so how? The map? But he didn't have it on him._

It was when they were making their way back to Hogwarts with the student they had found in tow that it happened.

Harry screamed, "Watch out!" While shoving her over, she fell on her backside and she could see that Madam Pomphrey had fallen too.

It was like in slow motion that she saw what happened next. Harry jumping _jumping!_ In front of a green light! No, no, NO! _Nooo!_

Hermione was in shock as she saw the body of her best friend hit by the green light and then fall to the floor. She scrambled her way to him, unbidden tears rolling down her face! Why? Why Harry? He was her best friend! Her very first friend! If it wasn't for him, she would have given up on magic! Why Why WHY!

_He even held my hand today..._

_McGonagall's POV_

The shock of finding a student outside overnight was bad enough, but the fact that the student, a Ms. Luna Lovegood, had been spelled asleep and unable to move. In fact, being unable to move might have saved her life. A fitful sleep could have attracted the notice of one of the denizens of the forest...

They were on their way back to Hogwarts when it happened, she heard a cry from Harry. Whipping around she saw it too, a green light coming towards them. Two lights coming towards them, one a yellow curse and the other... A killing curse.

Minerva McGonagall had fought against Grindelwald as well as Voldemort. As one of the leading authorities on transfiguration in the world, she had countless spells and strategies even against the killing curse. In fact she had the killing curse sent towards more times than anyone save Dumbledore himself. Dumbledore, also a master of transfiguration as well as alchemy, was uniquely suited to battle dark wizards and witches. There was just one problem, the last 15 years of peace had taken her edge. 14 years of being simply a professor of Hogwarts had done something that was fatal during any conflict... It had made her slow.

Not much slower, but just one or two seconds is a lifetime in a duel. Even a split second can be fatal.

Thus instead of defending herself, she used a spell to raise defenses behind her. It would take 3 seconds to form, one of the fastest conjurations possible but just a second too slow to put in the path of the killing curse. But even with her death she would have given her two students and her friend a fighting chance.

That's when the world shifted sideways.

A young form jumped in front of her, intercepting the killing curse, before falling to the ground unmoving. The colour seemed to seep away from her world, black fog surrounding the edges of her vision. One of her favourite students, trouble-maker that he was... Died?

There, in the distance was a man who she couldn't recognize, wand still pointed towards them.

Her heart beat drummed in her ears, the Scottish blood singing, vengence and battlelust.

She cast a blasting hex at the ground to give herself ammunition to use for transfiguration. Her opponent showed his inexperience, something that was common with all dark wizards. Never assume the first spell will hit. Always strike down masters of transfiguration as quickly as possible as hard as possible, and do not ever let them control the battlefield, because then you've lost.

The blasting hex ripped into the ground sending chunks of dirt and stone into the air. The two largest were transformed into a lion and a panther that started charging at her opponent. The other stones and debris were transformed into floating shields that surrounded all of them. She heard sounds of fighting from her side.

_There were TWO curses at the same time. Poppy must be stalling the other. Who knows if there are more, we need help! Where IS Dumbledore?_

She cursed, dark curses on school grounds would have the attention of the headmaster but only if he was on the premises and since the choosing of the champions was the previous night with its own fiasco, he was probably at the Ministry for Magic sorting things out.

A determined look settled on her face, anger etching its way into the depths of her eyes. These men dared to kill a student in front of her eyes?! During Voldemort's terror, Dumbledore may have been the only one Voldemort feared, but the Death Eaters feared many on the side of the light. Dumbledore's advantage in transfiguration came from his expertise in alchemy, giving him an uncanny control of the elements themselves. Minerva McGonagall's advantage lay in her perfect control and absolute precision.

Thus her opponent, after blasting the lion found the pieces of the lion turn into a pack of timber wolves that ran around him diving at him from his flanks while the panther jumped into the air, pouncing at his chest. The dark wizard used a fire whip to bisect the panther before whipping around in a circle to attack the wolves. The two halves of the panther transformed into a pig and a ram, with both coordinating with each other, the ram bashing him from the front while the pig tackling the back of his knees forcing him to fall.

From the ground, he used a powerful repulsing shield charm giving him a few seconds to get up. As his shield charm wore off, he gazed at the battlefield. He took a nervous gulp. Arrayed before him was a veritable army, two more lions, three panthers, more wolves, a tiger, a bear and a vast horde of smaller creatures. The transfiguration mistress was no where to be seen.

Minerva had shrunk into her cat form, keeping her concentration on her creations. This was her strength in battle, the sheer number and control. She lamented that they weren't closer to Hogwarts where she could bring to life all the statues and suits of armor to come to battle.

There was a slight pause as the repulsing shield fell before all her transfigurations _charged!_

_Pomphrey's POV_

Poppy Pomphrey was not having an easy time of things. Hunkering behind the mound of dirt that her friend had raised up, she was concentrating more on defense. As a mediwitch, she didn't know much offensive magic. Her attempts at stunning her opponent, a tall figure with a hood and mask covering his features were batted aside with almost contempt.

Thus she spent time adding moving shields to the defense shield array that McGonagall had put up. The shields intercepted the curses and hexes sent her way, creating a stalemate. She couldn't move because of Hermione and Harry... Pomphrey choked back a sob, _Harry! Why Harry?_

Her opponent was getting frustrated. He was clearly a match for the school nurse however didn't dare get close enough to be intercepted by the transfigurations that were building in number.

He cursed at his partner, "You were supposed to capture the boy, not kill him! What are we going to report now?!"

The stalemate was ended when Pomphrey heard a voice that she was not expecting, using a spell she hadn't heard before coming from behind her.

"_Frigatis Gladius, expulso maximus!_"

At first it seemed nothing happened, however a few seconds later a large sword shot through the air towards the hooded figure who tried to dodge with a yelp. It sunk into his shoulder dragging him before plunging into the ground. The dark wizard's wand went flying into the air before it flew as if summoned behind Poppy Pomphrey.

She turned around and her hand went to her mouth. There standing before her his wand in hand was none other than Harry Potter, green eyes blazing. There was a shimmer in the air around him as the feel of magic in the air deepened. Standing besides him was Hermione who had grabbed their opponent's wand, her own wand also in hand.

_Harry's alive?_

A red light sprung from Harry's wand and hit their opponent who lost consciousness.

McGonagall had also wrapped up her battle, one of her wolves had managed to bite and hang on before transforming into ropes that bound the other attacker. She was looking with amazement at a very much alive Harry Potter.

The Boy-Who-Lives indeed.

_Hermione's POV_

Watching two experienced witches battle was amazing. Even Pomphrey, a healer was holding her own against a clearly superior fighter with just a bit of support.

However this was lost on the young witch as she held the body of her best friend. Seeing him fall after being hit by the killing curse, it felt like a dagger had pierced her heart. There was a sharp pain that throbbed in her chest and Hermione didn't know if it would ever go away.

The pitter-patter of running animated transfigurations filled the air as well as the sound of floating shields exploding.

She almost missed it. THERE! A fluttering of eyes... Harry's eyes were fluttering? This didn't sound like the stages of death but she hadn't ever heard or read about what happens after someone gets hit with the killing curse. There wasn't really much of a spark of hope in her. She had brought the student, _Luna Lovegood, really what is it with wizards and their names?_ And placed her beside Harry.

Hermione knew she was in shock. She didn't believe Harry was gone. Any second now, he would open his eyes, reach out with one hand and grab her hand...

Her eyes were like saucers in her head, Harry had grabbed her hand! With hardly a whisper, he got up and crouched next to her.

"Hermione, we need to take the guy attacking Pomphrey by surprise," his voice was like a balm on a burn, water to the parched. Wordlessly, Hermione nodded, even forgetting to correct him about honorifics.

Hermione nearly gaped as Harry used a spell she hadn't heard of before to summon a sword of ice then sent it flying leaving a trail of frosty air towards the dark wizard. A red light sprang forth and shot almost like a bullet to the dark hooded man, _how can spells move that fast?_ Hermione used a spell she had researched recently.

"Accio wand!" before grabbing the wand that flew towards her. Before she knew it, it was all over. The two senior witches had trussed up the attackers and brought them before tying them together.

Of course that was the point that Luna Lovegood finally woke up.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry didn't know where he was. He had actually expected to wake to the sound of his name being called by Dumbledore and then go through the process of finding he was the fourth champion yet again. He mused to himself, if he was given a second chance be whoever it was, well he had definitely blown it...

He had died due to facial cream once. Really if he was the hero of the story then wasn't that just a little sad?

As he looked around, he realized, one, he didn't actually have a body, he seemed to just be floating around in some sort of grayish fog, and two, there was a figure approaching him from out of the mist.

As the appearance of the figure started to become more defined, Harry stopped breathing. As he currently didn't have a body, this was harder than it sounds.

Harry looked in shock as a woman with fire for hair and a warm smile looked at him fondly.

"Oh Harry, you silly boy," and then she embraced him. And even though at the moment Harry didn't have a body, he felt it. He felt that hug and the warmth it spread through all of him, mind and soul.

_In the Ether_

_"A mistake."_

_"A deep problem indeed."_

_"Never has this happened."_

_"How do we fix this?"_

To say there were people would not be accurate. There were... _Entities... Gods... Embodiments of the metaphysical._ They were not just gods but places, a time, a state of being. There was _Fate, Destiny, Time, Fire, Justice_, and many others, a few greater and multitudes lesser.

The current problem was a troublesome one and one which required a consensus to fix.

_"There are five Chosen living."_

_"Insignificant."_

_"Two more Fate's children remain living."_

_"Seven total."_

_"Significant."_

_"A ritual of Threes was invoked."_

_"Lost in the time stream, insignificant."_

_"More than one ritual of threes was invoked."_

_"Insignificant."_

_"Significant. One ritual was carried through by fire."_

_"The chosen's soul has seen tears from the bird of fire, tears from a betrayer and the venom of the king of snakes."_

_"Significant."_

_"Problem. There has been three rituals, each of Threes."_

_"... Significant."_

Words were not spoken. Instead ideas were shared through a metaphysical ritual that shared both experience and memory concurrently.

_"Solution. Summon a past mortal chosen."_

_"Agreed."_

Although mortals may name them Gods, they themselves knew they were imperfect, and thus not gods. They merely knew they were ideas, personifications of their own most dominant trait. And knowing of their own imperfections, they summoned an advisor.

A man appeared before the Council of Elder Power. He wore brown robes and wore a pointed black hat. A bearded face looked up into the ether yet couldn't see anything there. Yet he knew they were there observing him.

_"Myrrdin Emerys, past mortal chosen, your council is required."_

Merlin bowed, "I am at your disposal."

The council restarted, Merlin was given the entire conversation in a wash of memory as if he had taken part.

"Troublesome... Too much has gone wrong for too long. This is also a focal point of too many powers to reshape. Five chosen, but three scions of power, seven children of fate, three Rituals of Three. Time, Fate, Destiny, is three, Prophecy, Chaos, Magic, is another three, the Snake, the Firebird, the Betrayer, another three..."

"Chosen, Fated and Scion, another three. The Ritual of Fire. Another three. The Ritual of Mother's Protection. Another three."

"And lastly... He has the cloak. It is not just three Rituals of Three. It is seven."

_"He has not the Stone nor the Wand."_

_"He has both by Time, Fate and Destiny."_

_"Significant."_

_"Solution. Myrrdin Emerys, past mortal chosen, your council is good. We will judge your proposal."_

Merlin smiled. The Elder Council had strange rules. They already knew what he was going to say as they could see further into time but still required him to say it.

"I suggest a message. A message in a bottle. Held by a messenger."

Merlin's smile broadened.

"And what better messenger than the one who invoked one of the rituals. The ritual of Mother's Protection of course."

For a brief moment it seemed as if the universe stilled. All the powers of the council as well as those Greater and Lesser seemed to pause.

_"Significant."_

_Harry's POV_

"Mom? What? And and what?" Harry was a bit of a gibbering mess. The HUG (tm) given by his mother, Lily Evans-Potter had short circuited his brain. Though since he didn't have a body Harry didn't know how that worked.

"Oh Harry, you're in what most would call Limbo. Here is what ever you make of it. I _am_ a little concerned that you consider yourself a ball of gas that can talk and think though... Couldn't you picture yourself with a body?"

Harry paused. Then metaphysically shrugged before making himself have a body.

There was a bit of a hiccup though.

"Honey, you may want to picture yourself with some clothes..."

Lily Potter could barely contain her laughter as she covered her mouth. James was probably rolling around in laughter.

A short while later, Harry fully clothed had changed the scenery into that of a café he had spied on once when he was younger.

"So Harry, I don't have too long with you. I have been told to give you this!" With a bit of a dramatic flair, Lily gave Harry... A bottle.

"A bottle?" Harry was confused.

Lily smiled, "Inside the bottle is a message! Although I'm not sure what the message is but this is a gift that was given to you because you have a lot to do."

"What do you mean a lot to do? I mean I died right? I saw the killing curse as it hit me! Not to mention all the other times I died..." Harry blinked, this was the first time he was able to talk about his time travel!

"Yes Harry I know about your time travel. Your father and I are able to watch you from here you know. And let me tell you, Snape is going to get a reckoning when he gets here! Honestly using legilimency on children!"

"So he IS reading my mind!"

"Yes dear, though you already suspected that didn't you?"

Harry nodded angrily, that bastard!

A tremor went through the space they were in. Lily looked around, the space was slowly getting smaller. She walked around to Harry again and gave him the HUG (tm).

"Time's up honey, I'm not allowed to say much more but know that your father and I both love you and are very very proud of you. Now go back and live a little before coming back. We'll be here. Oh and tell Luna that her mom misses her. And tell Sirius James misses him and..."

That's how Harry spent the last ten minutes he had with his mother, just holding and being held, listening to his mother talk and telling her about his life in general although she apparently knew most of it. She still listened with a smile though, although she gained a vicious look when certain people were mentioned.

As the space started fading around and Harry disappeared, Lily looked down at an ugly baby like thing that Harry hadn't noticed. Lily took two steps back... Then punted the ugly thing as far as she could before walking back into the ether whistling.

_Outskirts of Hogwarts_

Harry had just attacked and stunned one of the wizards that had attacked him and his group. Before they could start questioning him, Luna Lovegood had woken up.

Silver eyes met green, "Hello Harry Potter. My name is Luna, Luna Lovegood... What are you doing in my bedroom?"

Luna looked around at everyone around her, "Hello Professor, Madam Pomphrey," she blinked her eyes at Hermione, "Hello Hermione Granger. Why is everyone around my bed?"

Harry couldn't help it, he started laughing. It seemed that was contagious though as Hermione started laughing too, the both of them leaning on each other as they lost control. Madam Pomphrey had chuckled a bit even as she waved her wand over Luna, checking to see if there was any other problems.

Even Professor McGonagall had a smile on her face as she address the little Ravenclaw, "Miss Lovegood, this is the lawn in front of Hogwarts. Forgive these two, it seems they..."

Unbeknownst to Harry, Professor McGonagall had sent a patronus to some of the staff to ask for help and to call the aurors. A mistake as it happens, as though she had sent a patronus to Albus Dumbledore and another to Severus Snape, one Auror Alastor Moody happened to be with them at the time.

A tap tap sounding walk could be heard as Alastor Moody walked up to the group.

"Well well well, what have we here. A couple dark wizards eh? Though I don't recognize them. Must be a glamour or polyjuice. How long has it been since you fought?"

"Hello Alastor, it's almost been an hour so if it's polyjuice, then it'll be wearing off soon," replied Professor McGonagall. Sure enough five minutes later, the two forms bubbled and transformed.

"Amycus and Alecto Carrow, deatheater twins and if rumor serves them right, lovers... I'll be taking these two in so off with you lot," Moody said before running his wand over the two bound up twins.

Unsuspecting, the group made their towards Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomphrey hardly made a sound when the killing curses hit them both in the back. Harry whipped around only to see a red curse headed towards him. He barely dodged it sending a lacerating curse back. The attackers, not expecting a reply all jumped to the side.

Harry couldn't believe his eyes, there standing free from restraints was the Carrow Twins with Moody beside them wands up and pointed towards him, Hermione and Luna.

It was surprisingly Luna that started sending spells. A stupefy then a color changing charm, tongue-tying hex, tripping jinx. Though her spell selection was third year spells, they were still effective. Hermione had shaken off her shock by the second spell and sent in her own spells into the mix.

As for Harry... The attackers were a little shaken when they saw Harry summon a firewhip, except this whip was three times thicker and five times longer than they themselves could summon leaving them gaping.

The attackers shielded as best they could but the firewhip tore through the shield guarding Amycus Carrow before one of Luna's spells hit him. Hermione had at some point sent a fire starting curse as well which hit the dark wizard lighting him up.

"Amycus! NO! You BITCH! I'll pay for that!" Alecto screamed, focusing her spells on Hermione now. The shields surrounding the three students couldn't hold and Hermione yelped as she dove to the ground.

"You fool, your brother is still alive. We can kill the two spares, we just need the boy so hurry up," Harry couldn't believe the words coming from their defense against the dark arts professor. Was this really the famous dark wizard hunter?

In the end, the three students couldn't hold out against the assault although they lasted a surprisingly long time. Harry could only watch in despair as a killing curse hit Hermione who was trying to get back to her feet. He saw a purple curse clip Luna who then fell to the ground, her body shooting out smoke while convulsing.

A terrible anger, a deep dark rage filled Harry at that moment. He made eye-contact with Moody and intoned a spell dripping with hatred.

"_Fiendfyre!_" A blast of flame in the shape of a large snake rushed out from Harry's wand. Alecto and Moody barely dodged before both sprinting away. Harry wondered why but he turned around seeing the whoosh of flame as Dumbledore appeared in a pillar of fire, Fawkes on his shoulder.

"My boy, how could you use such a dark spell? Fiendfyre? And you've killed Amycus. He was one of those who repented after the war. How could you take his life?"

Harry didn't pay attention to the headmaster. His eyes were fixated on the forms of Hermione, Luna, Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomphrey. He then turned towards the headmaster and said what he felt deep in his bones.

"Fuck you Dumbledore."

It was almost with relief that Harry noticed the pain in his head. Ah, so Dumbledore practices legilemency as well? Through the pain Harry smirked at the look of horror that spread across Dumbledore's face as he read Harry's mind. The last thoughts that went through Harry's mind were thoughts of dire retribution against Alastor Moody and one Albus Dumbledore.


End file.
